Free Puss in Boots (Timeless Fairy Tales Book 6) by K. M. Shea

weight-bearing beams of the store. They fell quiet as Gabrielle and her guide approached.
    “Lady Gabrielle, what can we do for you?” asked a man who couldn’t have been much older than Gabrielle.
    “It’s just Gabrielle.” She raised her shoulder several inches as she warily eyed the men. “I was wondering what I could do to help.”
    “Help? You’ve helped us plenty already, my lady,” another of the young men said, offering her a kind smile.
    Gabrielle swept her eyes across the group, watching for a smirk or a leer. She detected nothing. “Perhaps, but I am staying the night at Lena’s insistence, and I don’t like to be idle,” she said.
    One of the young men—the first one who greeted her—released a hee-haw of laughter. “Lena’s pushing you around, is she?”
    “Hartwin!” Annika said in her shrill little voice. “Don’t you insult my mother!”
    The man, Hartwin, playfully stuck his tongue out at the little girl. “My sister is about, Annika, if you’re looking for something to do.”
    “I’m not. I’m Lady Gabrielle’s guide,” Annika said, puffing out her chest.
    “Ho-ho! How the meek have been elevated,” another young man chuckled.
    “If it pleases you, my lady, I was about to begin repairing some of the doors. I could use assistance, if you are not opposed,” Hartwin said, returning his attention to Gabrielle.
    “Not at all,” Gabrielle said. “What do I do?”

    “Why do you keep looking about as if you fear Baba Yaga will jump out from the shadows of a building?” Puss asked, curled up in a patch of sunlight as Gabrielle nailed crude hinges onto finished doors.
    “I don’t know what you mean.” Gabrielle smacked a nail with a hammer.
    “Liar,” Puss said. He yawned, flashing his white teeth. “You leap at every odd noise. What is wrong?”
    Gabrielle set aside her hammer for a moment and looked down the street. Villagers were helping one another—setting doors, replacing siding, sweeping up debris. Their faces were tight, but they still laughed and told jokes. Any who noticed Gabrielle watching waved or smiled. “It’s very…odd.”
    “What?”
    “No one seems to dislike me,” Gabrielle said.
    “Dislike you? Why would they do such an asinine thing? You restored their belongings to them.”
    “Yes, but, I’m still…”
    “Yes?”
    “I’m still beautiful,” Gabrielle said.
    Puss chuffed. “And you accuse me of having a large ego? There is a phrase about a pot and a kettle that I feel would be quite appropriate here, if only there were a kettle worthy of being compared to the likes of me.”
    “My entire life I have been hated and liked too much because I’m beautiful. I abhor the way I look. It has wreaked havoc on my life. Whenever I cross paths with women they despise me, and men I would rather avoid pursue me relentlessly. There is nothing good about the way I look! But these people…they’re friendly. I haven’t heard one snide comment, and no one has made any advances, or inappropriate comments, or touches.”
    “What do you expect, Gabrielle? You’re a hero to them.”
    Gabrielle waved the hammer in Puss’s direction. “I am not a hero.”
    “Oh, very well. You are a champion, a rescuer. The point is you have done nothing but help them. Why would they spurn you?” Puss tucked his paws under his chest.
    “If that’s the case, why did everyone in Ilz treat me so poorly?” Gabrielle hammered a nail in with more force than necessary.
    “Did you do anything to make them look favorably upon you?” Puss asked.
    “What?”
    “You seem to require that I frequently repeat myself. As I previously stated, you have aided the villagers of Wied. What about those belonging to your hometown? Did you ever save their animals or their coin?”
    Gabrielle was silent.
    “What about something smaller? Did you help anyone repair their doors? Hm? You didn’t.”
    “That’s no excuse,” Gabrielle said.
    “It isn’t,” Puss agreed. “Kindness